"Engineer Cantonment
and Great Plains Exploration in the Early Nineteenth Century"
is Conference Theme

Council with the Pawnees of the Grand, Loup, and Republican Bands
at Engineer Cantonment, October 10, 1819. From an original watercolor
by Samuel Seymour, artist with Major Stephen H. Long's scientific
expedition. Courtesy of Beinecke Library, Yale University, New
Haven, CT

The Nebraska State Historical Society will present its
126th History Conference and Annual Meeting, October 8-9,
2004, in Omaha, at the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center. The
conference will center on the recent discovery and archeological
excavation of Engineer Cantonment, the 1819-20 winter camp of
Maj. Stephen Long's party of scientists and army engineers. From
the cantonment, located on the Missouri River north of present-day
Omaha, the explorers traveled along the Platte River in the spring
of 1820 to explore the Great Plains. Until Nebraska State Historical
Society archeologists confirmed its location in the spring of
2003, Engineer Cantonment remained one of Nebraska's most significant
undiscovered historic sites.

Gary Moulton of UNL, editor of the Lewis and Clark journals,
will provide the luncheon address entitled, "Lewis and Clark's
Top Ten." Other speakers and topics include Roger Nichols,
University of Arizona, "Scientific Exploration and Nebraska,
1819-1820;" Hugh Genoways, UNL, "Nebraska's First Biodiversity
Assessment;" and Rob Bozell and Gayle Carlson, NSHS archeologists,
"Archeological Investigations at Engineer Cantonment: The
1819-1820 Winter Quarters of the Long Expedition."

An afternoon bus tour will take participants to see the
site of Engineer Cantonment, and learn about what has been
found and future plans for the site. At Fort Atkinson participants
will tour the reconstructed post, originally established by the
army in 1820 at Lewis and Clark's "Council Bluff,"
where the explorers met with the Otoe and Missouria Indians on
August 3, 1804. Registration materials will be mailed to NSHS
volunteers.

Behlen Family Presents
Gift to NSHS

Walter and Ruby Behlen
State Historic Site, ColumbusThe Nebraska State Historical Society has received a significant
and substantial gift that will expand the interpretation
of historic sites into the mid-twentieth century. On July 7 Ruby
Behlen of Columbus and her family announced the donation to the
Society of their 1958 family home, listed on the National Register
of Historic Places. In acceptance of the Walter and Ruby Behlen
State Historic Site, Director Lawrence Sommer said, "The
Nebraska State Historical Society is honored to be entrusted
with this remarkable example of twentieth century architecture
that so visibly reflects the ingenuity and innovation of one
of Nebraska's great modern-day pioneers."

Walter Behlen established Behlen Manufacturing Company
in 1936, by purchasing the defunct Koziol Husking Hook Company,
whose chief asset had been an old drilling press. Walt Behlen
quickly put the press to use fabricating steel toe caps for work
shoes and CLAMP-PONN egg case fasteners. Behlen Manufacturing
created many innovative products over the years, including corrugated
farm gates and steel mesh corn cribs with motorized dryers, but
the most notable and ubiquitous innovation was the frameless
corrugated metal building. Now found all across the Midwestern
landscape, Behlen buildings took the place of smaller frame buildings
on many farms.

The Behlens built their 1958 home of Behlen corrugated
panels. Walt Behlen had long advertised that his metal building
materials were so adaptable, anything could be built with them.
Constructing a luxurious home of Behlen panels, and using rich
materials such as rare Burmese teakwood and Mount Shukson granite,
as well as designer treatments, illustrated the product's versatility.
A world-renowned architectural firm, Leo A. Daly of Omaha, was
hired to design the luxurious showpiece.

Acquisition and development of the Behlen House is a unique
three-way partnership with Ruby Behlen, widow of the late
Walter Behlen and her family, a task force of Columbus community
leaders, facilitated by the Chamber of Commerce, and the Nebraska
State Historical Society joining forces to make the house a resource
for the people of Nebraska. A special open house for the Columbus
community was held August 14 and 15. Plans for use of the house
are under development.

Rare Documents Recall
Lewis and Clark's "First Council."

The 2004 Nebraska "Signature Event" for the Lewis
and Clark Expedition Bicentennial commemorated the explorers'
first council with Indian tribes living west of the Missouri
River in the lands of the Louisiana Purchase. The council with
the Otoe and Missouria Indians occurred August 3, 1804, at a
place Lewis and Clark named the "Council Bluff," and
which they thought would be a good site for a future fort or
trading post. Their prediction came true in 1819-20, when the
army built Fort Atkinson at the Council Bluff.

In the fall of 1860, fifty-seven years after the 1803
meeting between the captains and the Indians at the Council Bluff,
some Otoes passed through Nebraska City. At the time, the tribe
was living on a Nebraska reservation in present Gage County.
Alfred Matthias and Joseph La Master, editors of the Nebraska
City People's Press, thought it remarkable that the Otoes
had carefully preserved various documents, including several
received from Lewis and Clark, and described the items in the
paper's November 21, 1860, issue.

One of the documents was a certificate from President Thomas
Jefferson to the Otoe warrior Big Ax, signed by Lewis and
Clark with affixed wax seals and silk ribbons. Another was a
January 4, 1806, letter, in French and signed by Jefferson, "to
the chiefs of the Osages, Missourias, Kansas, Ottoes, Panis,
Ayoways and Sioux." Upon seeing those and other documents,
the editors remarked, "their preservation for so long a
time shows that they are regarded by the Indians as of great
importance, and have been guarded with the most scrupulous care."

Had the long-ago Nebraska City newspapermen been able to
return for the bicentennial event in 2004, they would have
been thunderstruck to see the Big Ax certificate and the Jefferson
letter on display at the Fort Atkinson Visitor Center, along
with several other documents from the period of the Lewis and
Clark expedition. Otoe tribal members had carefully preserved
them for two hundred years, spanning their stay in Nebraska,
the tribe's removal to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in 1881, and
into the twenty-first century.

Recently, the documents were donated to the Oklahoma Historical
Society, which loaned them for display during the Nebraska
Signature Event. Tara Kennedy, paper conservator at the Society's
Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center in Omaha, treated them before
they were exhibited. Interestingly, the 1860 Nebraska City article
provided her with clues about conservation treatment because
it reported that the Otoes were storing the documents between
flat pieces of wood, revealing one cause of their deterioration
over time.

Although the documents were exhibited in Nebraska only
briefly, we should thank the Otoes and the Oklahoma Historical
Society for preserving and making available these tangible links
to a significant episode in Nebraska's past. ­ Jim Potter

Brown Bag Lectures

The Brown Bag Lecture Series (a history forum) is presented
on the third Thursday of each month, at noon, in the Blackman
auditorium, Museum of Nebraska History, Fifteenth and P Streets
(131 Centennial Mall North), Lincoln. We invite you to bring
your lunch and enjoy the lecture! The September and October programs
are as follows:

September 16: Brown Bag Lecture, "Amendment One: An
Opportunity to Preserve Nebraska's History," presented
by NSHS Historic Preservation staff member Bill Callahan. Amendment
One is a proposed amendment to Nebraska's constitution. If passed
by Nebraska voters in the November general election, Amendment
One would enable the Nebraska legislature to enact economic incentives
for historic preservation for the first time. Callahan will discuss
the potential for Amendment One to positively effect economic
and community development, while preserving Nebraska's significant
historic buildings.

October 21: Brown Bag Lecture, "Cowboys 'N Indians:
Western Mythology on the Nebraska Roadside," by Carol
Ahlgren, National Park Service. Ahlgren will look at the postwar
popular culture that resulted in, or contributed to, the mythologizing
of Western history (think TV shows, especially). You can also
see this mythologizing along historic highways.

If you are unable to attend the lectures at the museum,
catch the series as it is broadcast each month on Time Warner
Cable Channel 5. Lectures are televised the month following the
original presentation. The history forum lecture series is broadcast
on Wednesdays at noon and 8:30 PM, Fridays at 5:00 PM and Saturdays
at 6:00 PM.

The lectures are also being broadcast in Omaha on public
access Channel 23 and Cox's new digital Channel 802. The lectures
air on Cox Channel 23 on the first Sunday of the month, followed
by five days of broadcast on Digital 802.
Funding for the filming of the Brown Bag Lecture Series is provided
by the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation.

The NSHS's Founding and
Facts

The Nebraska State Historical Society was founded in 1878.
In 1883 the NSHS was designated a state institution and began
receiving financial support from the legislature. Legislation
in 1994 changed the Society from a state institution to a state
agency. The NSHS is governed by a fifteen-member board of trustees,
twelve elected by the members of the Society, and three appointed
by the governor.

The institutional values of the NSHS include: Preservation,
Public Service, Trust, and Excellence. The facts and information
provided are compiled in a brief fashion to tell you the story
of the NSHS. We invite you to visit us often to learn more about
your history ­ Nebraska's history.

What We Do

Archeology ­ The division is the Nebraska clearinghouse
for prehistoric and historic sites, including those threatened
by highway and other construction. Archeological resources are
investigated under provisions of the National Historic Preservation
Act.

Conservation ­ The Gerald R. Ford Conservation
Center, adjacent to the Ford Birthsite and Gardens, Omaha, provides
modern laboratories for the conservation of historical documents,
textiles, and museum objects.

Historic Preservation ­ The Society, whose director
is state historic preservation officer, implements Nebraska's
compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
Related responsibilities include the Nebraska Historic Buildings
survey, the National Register of Historic Places program, archeological
survey, review and compliance for federal undertakings, review
of projects seeking preservation tax incentives, and local participation
in historic preservation.

Library/Archives ­ This division collects, manages,
and preserves a wide spectrum of published and unpublished documentary
materials, and provides access to them. Located at 1500 R Street,
Lincoln.

Research and Publications ­ The division publishes
a quarterly magazine, Nebraska History, and books and documents
on Nebraska and Great Plains history.

Museum of Nebraska History. The museum collects and
exhibits objects interpreting the 10,000 years of cultures in
Nebraska and the Great Plains. Located at 15th and P Streets,
Lincoln.

Walter and Ruby Behlen State Historic Site. The house
built in 1958, interprets architecture and Nebraska innovation
in the mid-twentieth century. Located at 2555 Pershing Road,
Columbus.

Chimney Rock National Historic Site. Exhibits about
the migrations along the Oregon-California and Mormon Trails
are housed in the Ethel and Christopher J. Abbott Visitor Center.
Located at Chimney Rock Road, Bayard.

Fort Robinson Museum. Exhibits in the 1905 post headquarters
building, along with other historic buildings or sites, trace
the history of this military post from the 1870s Indian wars
through World War II. Located at Fort Robinson State Park, Crawford.

Thomas P. Kennard House, Nebraska Statehood Memorial.
The 1869 Italianate mansion of Nebraska's first secretary of
state, restored to the 1870s, tells of the early years of Nebraska
statehood. Located at 1627 H Street, Lincoln.

John G. Neihardt State Historic Site. The poet's original
study and an interpretive center reveal the inspiration and writings
of Nebraska's late Poet Laureate. Located at Elm and Washington
Streets in Bancroft.

Neligh Mill State Historic Site. The restored 1880s
mill office, a reconstructed flume and penstock, and mill dam
remains are visible reminders of waterpower days when grist mills
once dotted Nebraska's landscape. Located at N Street at Wylie
Drive, Neligh.

Senator George W. Norris State Historic Site. The
home of Nebraska's nationally-recognized U.S. Senator, known
as "The Fighting Liberal," who served in Congress from
1902 to 1942. Located at 706 Norris Avenue, McCook.

Willa Cather State Historic Site. Period structures,
including the Cather Childhood Home, interpret the Nebraska years
of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Located at 413 N. Webster,
Red Cloud.

Don't forget about membership, which is a great way
to support the NSHS and its mission. Membership includes Nebraska
History, a quarterly magazine, newsletters, discounts on publications
and items purchased at museum stores, and free admission to the
Nebraska State Historical Society's historic sites. For further
information about membership call 402-435-3535.

If you have further questions about NSHS and its facilities
call 471-3270, visit our website at www.nebraskahistory.org,
or stop by the museum stores, which offer books on Nebraska and
Plains history and Nebraska products.

Some 150 years after emigrants first started using Chimney
Rock as a landmark on their journey west, the Nebraska State
Historical Society opened the Ethel and Christopher J. Abbott
Visitor Center at Chimney Rock National Historic Site to the
public. Ten years have now passed and 370,000 people have filed
through the doors of the visitor center.

On Saturday, September 11, and Sunday, September 12,
in conjunction with Bayard Pioneer Days, we will celebrate the
visitor center's ten-year anniversary by waiving admission, and
offering a ten percent discount at the visitor center's store.
On Sunday, September 12, from 2:00-4:00 p.m., we invite the public
to help us celebrate by enjoying birthday cake and lemonade.

QUILT BOOKS and MOREfrom the MUSEUM STORE

No Time on My Hands, by Grace Snyder, as told to Nellie Snyder Yost.

A Flowering of Quilts, edited by Patricia Cox Crews.

The Quilt-Block History of Pioneer
Days: With Projects Kids Can Make,
by Mary Cobb. Ages, 7-9.

While You Shop the
Museum Store, be sure to visit
the current exhibit, Patchwork Lives, located on
the third floor of the Museum of Nebraska History, Fifteenth
and P streets, Lincoln. A new rotation of quilts begins on October
6, 2004.

"The Nebraska State Historical Society
collects, preserves, and opens to all, the histories we share."

Volunteer News is published bi-monthly for the world-class
volunteers at the Nebraska State Historical Society. For information
about volunteering with any of our divisions, or at any location
across the state, contact: